Af­ter A Farmer's Sui­cide...

Vi­darbha, the parched heart­land of cen­tral In­dia, has be­come the fore­most site of farm­ers' sui­cides in the coun­try. These sui­cides are the most strik­ing in­dict­ment of the ne­glect of agri­cul­ture by the State. But the story of the farm­ers' dis­tress does not end with their death. It lives on in the ex­pe­ri­ence of their wi­d­ows who strug­gle to sur­vive in the shad­ows. The book's pages are filled with the sto­ries of women, who in­stead of buck­ling un­der the grief of los­ing their hus­bands, have cho­sen to shoul­der their bur­dens in­stead. It in­cludes the nar­ra­tive of the women whose lives have also been shaped not just by their own choices but by the choices of their hus­bands. This book tells the story of 16 such wi­d­ows who have been in­vis­i­ble to the State, the com­mu­nity and even their fam­i­lies and talks of their lost dreams, their di­min­ished worldviews and their help­less sur­ren­der to the con­ve­niences of pa­tri­archy. These nar­ra­tives throw light on the dark and des­per­ate corners of their in­vis­i­ble world, one that re­flects the state of farm wi­d­ows across the coun­try.